Dallas Navigators

For seven seasons, from 1958 through 1964, a high-level minor league baseball club called the Dallas Rangers—and sometimes the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers—played its home games at Burnett Field in Dallas, Texas. The team used the Dallas Rangers name in 1958, 1959, and 1964, and operated as the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers from 1960 to 1963. It competed at the Double-A level in the Texas League in 1958, then moved up to Triple-A, spending 1959 through 1962 in the American Association and its final two seasons, 1963 and 1964, in the Pacific Coast League.

Storied Texas League franchises

Both Dallas and Fort Worth had deep roots in the Texas League. Dallas had been a league mainstay since 1902, appearing under a series of nicknames—Griffins, Giants, Submarines, Marines, Steers, Rebels, and Eagles—before becoming the Rangers for its last Texas League campaign in 1958.

Fort Worth’s teams were known as the Panthers (1902–1935) and the Cats (1936–1942, 1946–1958, 1964). Dallas won the Dixie Series, a postseason interleague championship between the Southern Association and Texas League champions, in 1926, 1946, and 1953. A notable promotional event occurred on Opening Day in 1950, when the Dallas Eagles fielded nine retired major league stars—including Dizzy Dean, Mickey Cochrane, Charlie Grimm, Charlie Gehringer, Travis Jackson, Home Run Baker, Ty Cobb, Duffy Lewis, and Tris Speaker—drawing 54,151 fans to the Cotton Bowl, a Minor League Baseball record.

Admission to Triple-A baseball

In 1959, the American Association expanded, admitting Dallas as an unaffiliated club and Fort Worth as a Chicago Cubs affiliate. The Dallas Rangers outdrew the Fort Worth Cats, 130,000 to 97,000, leading to a merger in 1960 that made the combined club the top farm team of the Kansas City Athletics. That same year, Clint Murchison, owner of the new NFL franchise in Dallas, originally planned to name his team the “Dallas Rangers” after being told in 1959 that the baseball club was disbanding. When the baseball owners reversed course, Murchison voluntarily chose a different name to avoid confusion.

The merged Rangers struggled in 1960, finishing last and attracting only 113,000 fans. The team affiliated with the expansion Los Angeles Angels in 1961, and in 1962 the Angels split their working agreement with the Philadelphia Phillies.

During those two years, future MLB stars like Jim Fregosi and Dean Chance played for the Rangers, but attendance still lagged behind other American Association clubs. After the American Association folded following the 1962 season, the Rangers joined the Pacific Coast League and affiliated with the Minnesota Twins, taking over the players of the defunct Vancouver Mounties. The 1963 Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers, managed by Jack McKeon and featuring Triple-A rookie Tony Oliva (.304, 23 home runs), finally reached .500, but the Minnesota partnership lasted only one year.

Final season and relocation to Canada

The Kansas City A’s returned as the parent club in 1964. That same season, the Texas League placed another Cubs affiliate in Fort Worth, and the Rangers reverted to their Dallas-only identity. The final Dallas Rangers club, managed by John McNamara, won just 53 of 157 Pacific Coast League games. Starting pitchers Lew Krausse Jr. and Bill Landis lost 19 and 17 games, respectively, and the team drew only 39,000 fans all season.

The franchise relocated to Vancouver in 1965. The Dallas-Fort Worth regional name was then applied to the Texas League club in Arlington, which became known as the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs through 1971. The Rangers nickname was later revived for the major league Texas Rangers, who moved to Turnpike (renamed Arlington) Stadium in 1972.